President Jammeh holds talks with Ballore Group CEO

Welcoming the investment delegation, President Jammeh expressed delight for their visit, informing them that his wish is to make The Gambia’s port one of the best in the whole world. “We want to make sure that before the end of 2014 we lay the foundation stone of the railway system and start the construction work because we realised that as the ports is saturated so also our roads too,” he told the investors.

He disclosed his government’s plan to construct an in-land port at Kaur, noting that the objective of this project is to ensure that goods destined for countries like Guinea Conakry and Mali are discharged at the said area for onward distribution. The objective of the railway, he explained, is to ensure that it stretches from Kaur to Senegal, Kai and eventually to Mali. This, he added, will ensure that goods destined for landlocked countries can be discharged in Kaur, from where they can be taken by rail to wherever they are eventually destined for. “We have been looking forward for three years and when I was informed of your visit, I wasn’t very sure because of the past experience,” he added.

 “What I can tell you as a developing country, no country can be an island even the most highly developed countries today want partnership. They work in partnership, so that is the way the human race works and so Gambia cannot be an exception. We are looking forward to any partnership that would be beneficial to all of us.”

Challenges

The Gambian leader also pointed out some challenges confronting the Port of Banjul, but was quick to indicate efforts by his government to make better. “There are a lot of challenges that can be overcome at the port, because when we were taking over this country it was almost at stone-age. We have done our best for its development even though our concentration is the infrastructure, roads, hospitals and schools,” he informed the Group.

On health

The Gambian leader also mentioned the strides in the health sector, informing the Group that his objective is for all Gambians and non-Gambians alike to be able to be treated within the country no matter how complicated their diagnosis are. 

“We want to minimise overseas referrals by at least 90%. I have made a pledge to the Gambian people that we want to make sure that no Gambian child walks more than a kilometer to go to school; so we still have to build more schools but what is more important as far as you [Ballore] is concerned, we are interested to build a partnership with you in the form of a joint venture,” he said.

 “We are looking for a long term commitment and so we want to make sure that we are not going to withhold anything from you; we are going to put all our cards before and we expect that you also put all your cards before us so that tomorrow once we signed we know that this is what we are going through,” he further told the potential investors.

The minister of Trade, Employment and Integration, Abdou Kolley, for his part, told the investors that government is very much interested in the exploration of the investment opportunities in the country.  “Efforts to increase the capacity of the port and modernising its infrastructure is ongoing. Thus, if we are to get a partner in different forms or whatever form it may take could be a joint venture that is agreeable to ensuring that the ports is modernised,” he said.

He further told the investors that the government is not only looking at developing Banjul port in this eminent partnership with Ballore Group, but to also look at river transport with a view to possibly developing a dry port somewhere in the hinterland that will facilitate the linkages towards the Mali region and other parts of the region close to that area. 

The Transport, Works and Infrastructure Minister, Bala Garba Jahumpa, informed the Group that its areas of focus are really in tandem with the development aspirations and desires of the government under the leadership President Jammeh. 

The Group’s CEO, Dominique Lafont, told the president that the Ballore is a family business, created in 1822. He informed that it operates in almost all countries of Africa and has 25, 000 employees in the African continent with an average annual sales of 2.5 billion Euros per year. 

“It has since then always been run by one family called the Ballore Family. Today it is a registered group among the first 500 first International groups. It has three pillars, communication, water and hygiene and logistics and infrastructure. We are spread over 100 countries in the world,” he added.

Noting that the Group is the first port operator in Africa with 16 under its control in the continent, Lafont indicated that they also run three railways in Africa. “Our philosophy is to unlock Africa and we want to do that either through private business such as logistics business, infrastructure and public-private partnership among other things,” he said. 

He reminded that they have been active in the Gambia for over 30 years, saying the purpose of their visit is to show the leadership of the Gambia how eager they are to invest more in The Gambia.  “This morning, I have visited the airport and I have heard about the Gambia Ports so many times and when I visited there, I thought I was visiting a place I have visited many times. The very good surprise about that is the level of the current facility which is doing very well and this is a major point of achievement,” he observed. 

He told the country’s leadership that among the 50 ports service he is involved elsewhere in the world, that of The Gambia, though small, is doing very well. “So we have studied what we could do and for the second time basically. So we are eager and ready to invest in Ports infrastructure in the Gambia. We are also eager to put forward and discussed different approach with authorities in the country,” he told the Gambian leader and the ceremony,” he stated.